Improvement in packing ammunition in chests and boxes



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEiicEO [FRANCIS L. HAGADORN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN PACKING AMMUNITION IN CHOESTS AND BOXE-S.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 71,298, dated November 526, 1867; antedatcd November 14, 1867.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRANCIS L. HAGADORN, of Baltimore, in the county ofBaltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and Improved Method of Packing Ammunition; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference bein g had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in providin g flexible partitions and holsters for the purpose of packing ammunition in boxes, chests, Src., and securing the s'ame by wedges or other mechanical means.

' To enable others skilled in the arts to make and use myinvention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct my ammunition-boxes or ammunition-chests in any of the known styles, except the partitions, cleats, and bolsters, substitutin g therefor flexible lattice-work forming a succession ot' levers, Figure 4, or corrugated sheets of metal riveted together back to back, Fig. 2, the interstices equal to any given caliber of ammunition, at the bottom ot' each of which is a turned bolster furnished with an elastic ring fitted exactlyin it, and suited to the head of the projectile.

The peculiar wedge by which'I hold the ammunition rmly in the cells has six plane surfaces, oneot' which is rectangular and all the others trapezoidal. I call it, therefore, a dovetailed77 wedge, D. It has an eye of brass or copper inserted in the upper or larger end, (by which it may be lifted,) and a screw, E, proiecting about halt an inch from the rectangular surface. This wedge works in an inclined dovetailed slot cut in a block, O, having one plane surface and one semieircular or grooved or beveled surface, as thecase may be, its height or length corresponding with the height or length of the ammunition, the slot being rectangular on vits inner plane and trapezoidal on its sides and on all its openings to correspond exactly with the wedge, and having a lesser slot let in its inner plane sufficient to receive freely the projecting screw of the Wedge, and of such length as to prevent the Wedge passing beyond the extent of the block in either direction.

Rectangular rubber springs A A, from one to two 4inches in thickness and two inches Wider than the dogs or hounds of the limber, are secured by screws at the bottom of the chest, so as to rest upon the said dogs or hounds, the irons of the limber being extended and adjusted accordingly.

Annular elastic holsters B, iitted and secured at the bottom of the cells tbr the reception of the ammunition, being either metallic spiral springs or sections of elastic tubes of rubber, cork, gutta-percha, or other elastic material, of the diameter of the ammunition and of sufcient height to bolster the projectiles from the bottom of the chest. v

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The system ot exible or adjustable partitions together with the holsters, as described, or their equivalent-s, arranged substantially in the manner and for -the purposes herein set forth.

2. In combination with the above, the compound or dovetailed wedge, substantially as described.

F. L. HAGADORN.

Witnesses M. A. LUNAR, C. S. HAGADORN. 

